Multimedia

Getting the DrillFrom the creator of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? comes asports-trivia game show bidding to be the genre's Jeopardy!

What if you took the most harrowing experience of your life andfrom it created a game show? (Someone has, you say: Blind Date.)"When I was 18, I faced an academic inquisition," says Britishnative Michael Davies. "I sat before a review board for half anhour for my entrance exam at Oxford." Davies wound upmatriculating at the University of Edinburgh and has madesomething of himself, considering that he became the executiveproducer of the worldwide smash game show Who Wants to Be aMillionaire? Now, collaborating with Win Ben Stein's Moneycreator Andrew Golden, Davies has come up with 2-Minute Drill, asports game show. Beginning this week, the show, hosted bySportsCenter's Kenny Mayne, will appear on Mondays at 7 p.m. onESPN; a weekly Thursday show will be added starting on Oct. 12.

2-Minute Drill is a 51-player (all male, natch) tournament. Inthe first round, three contestants vie, with two advancing;succeeding rounds pit two contestants. As for the format, "it'sbased on the same idea as that review board," says Davies. "Eachcontestant sits before a panel of experts--in this case, athletesand ESPN personalities--and answers as many questions as he can intwo minutes." (Example: Who is the youngest major leaguer toreach 400 home runs? Answer: Ken Griffey Jr.) The victor receives$5,000 (which can be doubled if he correctly answers a bonusquestion). The overall tournament's winner, to be determined on aChristmas Day show, is guaranteed $100,000 and could earn as muchas $200,000 if he nails all his bonus questions. The bonus roundseparates the knowledgeable from the hard core. At one tapinglast week, the bonus question was: In Super Bowl XXI, the Giantsran a flea-flicker. Who were the quarterback, the running backand the wide receiver involved, and for how many yards--withintwo--did it go? Answer: Phil Simms, Joe Morris, Phil McConkey, 44.

Traditionally, sports game shows are lame shows. But with viewerssure to play along (as they do with Millionaire) and the suspenseof the tournament structure, Davies seems to have drafted awinner in 2-Minute Drill. Moreover, in Mayne, he has a host whosedry wit is perfectly suited for the genre. Yet if you tune in youmay wonder the same thing I did: How many of these contestantswill someday appear on Blind Date? --J.W.

MORE LEER THAN CHEERIt may have reached No. 1, but we can't yell it proud about BringIt On

The girls on the five-time national champion Rancho Carne Highcheerleading squad have sharp tongues to complement their nubilefigures. Thus, they chirp such put-downs as, "She puts the 'ass'in massive" and "She puts the 'lude' in deluded" as easily asthey perform back handsprings. Did the cheerleaders at your highschool possess such caustic wit? Neither did ours. Somehow BringIt On, which stars Kirsten Dunst as earnest cheer captainTorrance Shipman, was the nation's top-grossing film in its firstweekend in release, earning $17.4 million. Why? Two clues. Gimmea T! Gimme an A! What does that spell? (A PG-13 rating, insuringthe patronage of the junior high set, helped.)

Like a poorly done sideline routine, Bring It On seems unfocusedand unsure of itself. Is it a satire, like Clueless? The campyopening number ("We cheer as we lead/We act like we're onspeed"), which is the film's zenith, would suggest thatapproach. Is it a racial struggle, like West Side Story? Seemsthe upper-middle-class Rancho Carne unit has built its dynastyby stealing the routines of an inner-city high school squad.(Hey, copying black artists worked for the Rolling Stones.) Oris it a celebration of a niche sport that builds to a climacticchampionship scene, like The Karate Kid? Who knows? We do knowthat Bring It On puts the pomposity in pom-poms. Or, as oneneophyte to the "sport" exclaims incredulously, "Wait! Peoplecheering cheerleaders!?"

On a scale of two bits-four bits-six bits-a dollar, we giveBring It On four bits.

--J.W.

COLOR PHOTO: KEVIN MAZUR Mayne (center) is joined on an early show by questioners (from left) Tony Dorsett, Marcus Camby, Rich Eisen and Robert Wuhl.